Mantis in the Wings
by wwfanz
Summary: PRJF. Pre-Way of the Master. The Rangers receive a special master for the day.


R.J. has his three students hard at work in the loft -- training their animal spirits for their next battle with Dai Shi. He hears Fran arrive downstairs to start opening the restaurant. The three Rangers start heading to the stairwell.

"Where to you think you're going?" R.J. asks, as they abruptly stop and face him. "There's no work for you today." Theo and Casey promptly high five each other with a smile. "Before you start celebrating, you should know that I've scheduled special training for today."

"Well then, let's do it!" Theo enthusiastically jumps forward for his training.

R.J. looks sarcastically looks around. "The training's not with me, Theo."

The Rangers begin to look worried. He's their master, why would someone else be training them. Theo then remembers Master Mao's words, "do not get attached to the master, but the lesson" and is suddenly a little less bothered.

Downstairs a woman in a black gi entered Jungle Karma Pizza; much to Fran's chagrin. "Uh, we're closed. Could you please come back in a half hour."

The woman continued walking and headed for the stairs. "R.J. is expecting me."

Fran rolls her eyes. "Why is _she_ allowed up there?"

"Ah, our guest has arrived." R.J. rushes over to greet the woman and the Rangers bow to her. "Students, I'd like you to meet Trini Kwan. She's going to teach you from the Mantis technique." He then picks up his apron that was hanging on the railing. "Now I'm going to go help Fran in the restaurant. If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen." At that, he was gone. Casey, Lily and Theo were left with their new master.

Fran still can't get over her curiosity of the woman and walks through the kitchen door, only to see R.J. standing right in front of her. She quickly tries to think of something to say. "So R.J., what's up?"

"She's an old friend who's in town to help me out with something" he says, seeing right past her façade.

Fran is taken aback by his words. "Wait, what?"

R.J. takes a deep breath and starts to work on making pizzas. "That was what you were going to ask me, right? Who is that woman and what is she doing here?"

"Um, I wouldn't be that blunt about it." Fran slowly backs away to finish putting down the chairs in the restaurant.

Meanwhile, in the loft, Trini pulls out a pair a daggers and begins to show what she can do. Casey and Lily watch on in amazement, as Theo begins to wonder how difficult it truly is. When she's finished demonstrating, he walks over. "When do I get a try at those?"

"Your name is Theo, right?" Trini doesn't wait for him to respond, as she already knows the answer. "Your designated weapon is the tonfa, but I heard you've also mastered the nunchaku." Theo gleams of his accomplishment. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you try the daggers as well."

Trini steps back with Casey and Lily as Theo starts waving the daggers. "See? Piece of cake." The right dagger then slip from his hand, landing in R.J.'s chair.

Lily and Casey rush over to check out the damage. "Theo! You are so lucky that didn't slice R.J.'s chair" Lily yells.

At the sound of his name, R.J. rushes upstairs to see what all the commotion was about. After seeing the dagger laying on his chair he commands attention. "Weapons training is over."

Trini walks over and puts away her daggers. "Yes, I think that's best for now." R.J. nods at her as she nods back. Trini gets the Rangers lined back up for more training. She rolls up her sleeves as Theo notices her arm.

"Where's your master tattoo?" Theo asks, as Lily and Casey become worried about Trini being an imposter.

Trini is unsure what he is talking about, looking over at R.J. for assistance. "Trini's _not_ part of Pai Zhuq" he says, puzzling his students.

"What?" Theo yells. "How could you compromise the sanctity of Pai Zhuq by bringing her in here?" Theo becomes angered and begins to walk off, but turns around to leave one final sentiment. "Master Mao would be ashamed of you, R.J."

Lily watches her best friend walk out of sight. "Theo, come back" she exclaims, running after him.

Casey is unsure what to do, but knows his team wouldn't want him to stick around. "I'll be down in the restaurant."

After watching his three students just leave him like that, R.J. turns to Trini, who is contemplating leaving herself. "I don't think this was a good idea." Trini picks up her bag and pulls the strap onto her shoulder. "Your team hates me and I don't know why."

"Trini, no." R.J. slides the bag off her shoulder. "Don't leave." He uses his index finger to pull her chin towards him. "It's my fault."

Trini is still confused, but no longer has the urge to leave immediately. Instead, she waits for him to continue.

"They think you're a master at their martial arts school." R.J. pauses. "_Our_ martial arts school -- the Pai Zhuq academy."

Somehow Trini felt silly now. She had heard of Tommy and Adam's encounters with ninja academies through her Ranger friends. It wasn't completely unheard of for Rangers to be part of another organization. Trini was now getting the opportunity to experience this firsthand.

"If I leave now, I can probably still catch Theo and Lily before they get too far away." R.J. motions leaving, as Trini begins to think.

"No," Trini says, leaving R.J. confused. "I'll go get them."

"But--" R.J. begins to say before being interrupted.

"I need to do this." Trini heads downstairs and out the front door, beginning her search for Lily and Theo.

Trini rushes down the stairs and out the door, as Casey watches on from the kitchen. He then sees R.J. walk towards him. "How could you, a Pai Zhuq master, be so clueless to that imposter?"

R.J. then becomes enraged with his clueless student, watching him walk into the dining area, oblivious to the fact that his master was changing into his highest form -- a werewolf. After letting out a howl, Casey rushes back in to see R.J. standing there with his shirt ripped. "Upstairs now." R.J. commanded, as Casey reluctantly followed.

Trini finally caught up with Theo and Lily at the park. She saw the two sitting on the swings together, moping. "You're not going to stop Dai Shi just sitting around like that." Trini reveals herself, walking over to the duo.

The two look over and Theo immediately looks away in disgust. "What do you know about Dai Shi? You're not a Pai Zhuq master." Theo continues looking at his shoes, kicking them in the sand.

"I may not know a lot about Dai Shi, but I do know Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd pretty well." Trini says, as Theo looks up and his face starts beaming.

Lily is suddenly confused. "Why are you looking like that Theo?"

"You're a… you're a…" Theo can't seem to get the words out. "You're a Power Ranger."

After hearing this, Lily's eyes open wider than ever. "Is this true?" Lily impatiently waits for an answer.

Trini blushes. "Well, I'm not anymore. But, yes. I was the original yellow Power Ranger."

"Yellow?" Lily asks, grabbing Trini's arm and dragging her back to Jungle Karma Pizza.

Theo wonders what just happened, seeing the two girls walk off together. "Wait! I figured it out first." Theo rushes to catch up as the three of them are ambushed by Rinshi.

"Who invited you party crashers?" Trini asks, as the three of them get in their fighting stances.

"I think the better question is, who invited _you_?" Theo and Lily recognize that voice, as Camille walks out into the open. "Rinshi, attack!"

R.J.'s alarm goes off in the loft, as he and Casey rush over. "It's Camille and the Rinshi."

"I'm on it," Casey states, rushing off to help.

R.J. continues to watch from his chair, with a bowl of snacks in his lap.

"Hey, new girl. Aren't you a little old to be a Pai Zhuq student?" Camille looks on as Casey arrives to give the Rangers better odds.

Trini kicks away a Rinshi and turns her attention to Camille. "Who are you calling _new girl_?" The two begin circling each other, until Camille makes the first move.

Theo is then getting distracted in battle by Trini, always looking over to see the Ranger legend in action.

"Theo, look out!" Lily shouts, saving him from a Rinshi.

Theo turns around to see Lily standing over the Rinshi. "Thanks, Lil."

Camille is getting fed up with losing this battle, transforming into her armored mode. "Try and beat me now, pathetic human."

Trini reluctantly pulls out her morpher from behind her back and stares at it. Not even sure if it would work, she grabs it with both hands in front of her and shouts, "It's morphin' time!"

Theo and Lily scream with excitement, while Casey is in complete shock. "She's a Power Ranger?"

"Not another Yellow Ranger," Camille complains. Trini calls forth her Power Daggers as Camille readies her own weapons.

"It's just like in the loft," Lily states.

"It's better than in the loft," Theo remedies.

The two then hear struggling going on behind them. "Uh, a little help here." They turn around to see Casey struggling with a group of Rinshi and rush to help. The three of them then pull out their solar morphers and shout, "Jungle beast, spirit unleashed!"

After summoning their own weapons, the Rinshi are soon destroyed. Camille then notices she's all alone. "What did you do to my Rinshi?" She backs away as the four Rangers stand together. "I'll be back Rangers. You can count on it." At that, she disappeared into her surroundings and made her way back to Dai Shi's temple.

The four of them arrived back at Jungle Karma Pizza laughing and joking with each other. When they got back up to the loft, Casey noticed Trini was grabbing her bag to leave. "You're leaving?"

Trini looks at the three, who now seem sad. "Unless you want me to stay a little longer."

"Yes!" Theo and Lily both exclaimed. "We want you to stay," Theo continued.

Trini set her bag back down. "Well, okay then." She then pulled out a wooden box. "I'll just be right back." Trini ran down to the kitchen to find R.J.

"What's this?" He asks, being handed the wooden box from Trini.

She smiles, as R.J. opens it up. "It's from you-know-who."

"Thanks," he says, noticing the morpher inside. He followed her back into the loft, putting the box away, knowing he wasn't quite ready to wear it yet.

"Now who wants to hear about the time I took on a Mantis monster all on my own?" Trini asks, knowing Theo would gladly listen.


End file.
